|
Help save yourself
— join CLT
today! |
CLT introduction and membership application |
What CLT saves you from the auto excise tax alone |
Ask your friends to join too |
Visit CLT on Facebook |
CLT UPDATE
Friday, February 1, 2013
Taxpayers "getting hammered" by fraud
|
Bay State taxpayers are doling out a staggering
$25 million a year to welfare recipients who may not even be
eligible to collect, according to a blistering new report from one
of the state’s top fraud fighters.
The report, focused on families with at least one
child,
estimated that almost 10 percent of the 51,311 families on
welfare are able to collect benefits from the Department of
Transitional
Assistance without having to provide the right
documentation....
“Any taxpayer who reads this (IG) report should
be absolutely outraged that there’s such loose eligibility
requirements in our public assistance programs,” said state Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton). “They’re thumbing their nose at the
taxpayer here, by not following their own rules for eligibility and
verification requirements.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Report: Up to $25M welfare waste
A state watchdog agency’s study of information
submitted to the state by welfare recipients found errors and
eligibility concerns with an average annual cost to taxpayers of
about $25 million per year....
Based on a sample of active TAFDC cases as of
June 1, 2012, Cunha’s office found “substantial compliance in all of
the eligibility categories” with one exception: none of the
households with school-aged children complied with a school
attendance verification requirement.
The office also found “potential” eligibility
errors in several areas, including undisclosed assets and employment
income, missing residency verifications, participation in work
programs, and citizenship or immigration status.
According to the IG, potential eligibility errors
“are expected to be present” in about a third of households
receiving benefits, based on extrapolations made from the sample
examined.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr on Thursday
noted the report’s arrival on the heels of Gov. Deval Patrick’s call
for higher taxes, fees and tolls and said in a statement that
Cunha’s report “proves that there is still substantial work to be
done to eliminate and prevent fraud, waste and abuse in our state’s
welfare system.”
Tarr said, “It’s unacceptable that taxpayers
would be asked to pay more while millions are being wasted. Equally
unacceptable is the diversion of precious dollars intended to
support those in need from people who deserve them to those who do
not.”
State House News Service
Thursday, January 31, 2013
State Capitol Briefs
IG finds welfare system my be squandering $25M in benefits
The state’s embattled welfare chief was forced to
step down yesterday in the wake of a shocking internal report that
found that a staggering 47,000 families receiving taxpayer-funded
benefits are unaccounted for — and nearly $30 million in food stamp
money went to recipients who were not eligible.
The shocking report, released to the Herald last
night, found that the Department of Transitional Assistance has lost
track of 47,087 households on welfare — or one out of 10 of the
total 478,000 who received DTA mailings.
The welfare department also admitted that it
overpaid federal food stamp recipients by a whopping $27.8 million
since 2010....
The Herald reported early last month that 19,000
voter registration mailings to welfare recipients came back as
undeliverable because the state couldn’t confirm their residencies.
That number was based on welfare department
estimates. But after staffers hand-counted boxes of returned mail,
they discovered the actual number is more than 47,000.
That means thousands of people receiving
electronic benefits may have moved out of state or out of the
country — or they may have died or gone to prison....
The IG’s report showed that welfare benefits are
going to thousands of families that may not be eligible because they
are working outside jobs, failed to provide proof of residency or
proof of citizenship, or submitted false information about spouses
they claimed to be absent, among other disqualifying factors.
The Boston Herald
Friday, February 1, 2013
Welfare boss resigns in wake of $$ report
Gov. Deval Patrick’s planned shifting of the
income and sales tax rates would essentially result in a revenue
“wash” and the bulk of $1.9 billion in new revenues under his
tax code overhaul would come from eliminating specific
exemptions and deductions, according to the Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation.
“These deductions and exemptions can have a
huge impact on individual taxpayers,” MTF President Michael
Widmer told the News Service Thursday.
The 44 personal income tax exemptions and
deductions targeted by Patrick add up to $1.08 billion in new
revenue under the tax plan, or 68 percent of the money Patrick
hopes to raise once the sales tax cut and income tax increase
essentially cancel each other out, according to the
business-backed organization....
Glen Shor, the governor’s secretary of
administration and finance, did not take issue with Widmer’s
math, but said he looks at the proposal through a different
prism....
Shor said the income tax hike is the
principle source of new revenue, with the brunt of the increase
falling on the mid- to-higher income earners, while lower income
individuals and families will benefit from a reduction in the
sales tax and a doubling of the personal tax exemption, thus
reducing their taxable income....
The biggest revenue-raising deduction
elimination also affects the most people. Currently,
Massachusetts residents can deduct up to $2,000 in federal
payroll taxes and public pension plans from their personal
income for state taxes. That deduction affects 3.6 million
filers and its elimination will generate $357 million in
revenue, under the higher, proposed income tax rate....
Widmer noted that while Patrick’s tax and
spending plan would increase college tuition grants, the tax
reform proposal calls for an elimination of a tuition deduction,
which affects 65,000 people and saves tax filers $36 million
under the current income tax rate....
The tax code changes would also eliminate the
$3,600 deduction for one dependent under the age of 12 and the
$7,200 deduction for two or more dependents age 12 or younger.
That would affect 510,000 filers who currently save $136
million.
Other deductions and exemptions slated for
elimination are the deduction for business-related child care
expenses, certain foster care payments, the exemption of
scholarships and fellowships, the personal exemption for
students aged 19 or older, as well as the deduction for public
transit expenses and tolls.
State House News Service
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Analysis: Patrick's new revenues hinge on eliminating tax breaks
|
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Every day it's another assault on productive,
taxpaying citizens. Keeping track of these outrages is a full-time
job and then some. Then, as soon as we learn about them, they get
even worse.
It was only a month ago that we first learned how
many on the welfare roles had 'gone missing' while still collecting
our hard-earned money. This was an
unintended consequence after the state mailed out 477,000 voter
registration letters to welfare recipients at a cost to us of
$275,844. While this served to increase the voting rolls by
31,000 welfare dependents, it exposed the fact that 19,000 of those
welfare recipients had gone missing, addressee unknown, though still
automatically collecting benefits.
Now we learn that "19,000" was a considerable
undercount — only an "estimate."
"But after staffers hand-counted boxes of
returned mail, they discovered the actual number is more than
47,000."
Imagine that.
Oh, by the way: "The welfare department
also admitted that it overpaid federal food stamp recipients by a
whopping $27.8 million since 2010."
Gov. Patrick probably deems this "anecdotal" as
usual.
Or perhaps just a Bacon Hill rounding error.
We've got to find a better word than
"outrageous." Taxpayer outrage has become the status quo in
Taxachusetts, a state of being — the
norm.
|
Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
Office of the Inspector General
Review of Eligibility for the
Transitional Aid
to Families with Dependent Children Program |
|
Website |
Full Report
|
State Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton)
has asked voters to
call their legislators, who will be choosing which bills to sign on
to as co-sponsors, and ask them to sign on to the two proposed
O’Connell-Holmes bills for EBT card reform:
HD. 3378
—
Act relative to online payment for EBT cash recipients
HD. 3384
—
Act relative to eliminating fraud in public assistance programs.
Find and contact your State Representative
and State Senator
Who are my
elected officials
- or -
Massachusetts State Representatives
●
Massachusetts State Senators
The Deval is in the details.
We've had considerable differences with the
so-called Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation over the years and
decades, but the analysis MTF just released nicely nails down Gov.
Patrick's largest tax increase in state history: Hammer the
middle-class mercilessly to comfort the low-income and lay-abouts.
"The most vulnerable among us" aren't living large enough yet
— even those 'gone missing' who are no
longer "among us" but still living off of us.
"Gov. Deval Patrick’s planned shifting of the
income and sales tax rates would essentially result in a revenue
'wash' and the bulk of $1.9 billion in new revenues under his tax
code overhaul would come from eliminating specific exemptions and
deductions."
The governor's secretary of administration and
finance defended this, according to the State House News Service:
"Shor said the income tax hike is the principle
source of new revenue, with the brunt of the increase falling on the
mid- to-higher income earners, while lower income individuals and
families will benefit from a reduction in the sales tax and a
doubling of the personal tax exemption, thus reducing their taxable
income."
Thus, if Patrick's scheme is adopted by the
Legislature, it'll increase the tax burden on the middle-class on
up. The higher revenue generated will be used to minimize any burden
on "lower income individuals" — those
whose only contact with any tax whatsoever is the
sales tax.
Of course if you don't pay any income tax, you
lose nothing when Deval eliminates tax deductions.
The middle-class is "getting hammered" again
— or is that still
— or, even more than ever before!
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
|
|
|
The Boston Herald
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Report: Up to $25M welfare waste
By Chris Cassidy
Bay State taxpayers are doling out a staggering $25 million a year
to welfare recipients who may not even be eligible to collect,
according to a blistering new report from one of the state’s top
fraud fighters.
The report, focused on families with at least one child,
estimated
that almost 10 percent of the 51,311 families on welfare are able to
collect benefits from the Department of Transitional
Assistance
without having to provide the right documentation.
“The DTA is really going to have to do a better job following its
regulations,” Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha told the Herald
yesterday.
“This is definitely a message for people that if you want to
receive cash benefits, you need to be prepared to provide all the
eligibility information to the DTA,” Cunha said. “If you lack it,
this will hopefully lead DTA to suspend benefits until they get the
information.”
The inspector general’s eye-opening study found the welfare
department is awarding benefits to recipients who:
• work outside jobs — a welfare violation that wastes $4.4 million
in taxpayer dough. In one case, DTA never bothered investigating a
tip that one woman was running a day care center out of her home.
• hold more than the $2,500 maximum assets — a lapse in DTA
oversight that costs taxpayers $2.2 million. One welfare
recipient
was even the landlord of a housing unit, collecting $1,000 a month
rent.
• fail to provide adequate proof of residency — another DTA snafu
costing the state
$4.4 million. In one staggering example, a
recipient listing his address simply as a P.O. box was allowed to
collect. Another was able to claim their child who went to school in
Puerto Rico.
• fail to prove their child was even related to them — a blunder
costing $7.4 million.
• never proved their citizenship or immigration status —
another
hit costing $5.2 million.
• submitted false or misleading information about a spouse they
claimed to be absent —
$2.9 million. In some cases, women signed
affidavits claiming the father was never around, only to have a
subsequent child with the same man.
The total comes to $26.5 million, but the audit wrote off
$1.5
million because of overlapping categories.
DTA Commissioner Daniel Curley acknowledged the audit exposed
problems where “increased checks” could save taxpayers money. But he
claimed the welfare department has
already set up new ways to
verify employment and Social Security records, and he touted a new
integrity unit he claimed recovers millions each year.
“DTA has already enhanced its systems and processes in many of these
areas, and will continue our efforts to strengthen program
integrity,” Curley said.
The IG’s findings come on the heels of a Herald report earlier this
month that the state could not account for as many as 19,000 missing
welfare recipients.
“Any taxpayer who reads this (IG) report should be absolutely
outraged that there’s such loose eligibility requirements in our
public assistance programs,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton). “They’re thumbing their nose at the taxpayer here, by
not following their own rules for eligibility and verification
requirements.”
State House News Service
Thursday, January 31, 2013
State Capitol Briefs
IG finds welfare system my be squandering $25M in benefits
By Michael Norton
A state watchdog agency’s study of information submitted to the
state by welfare recipients found errors and eligibility concerns
with an average annual cost to taxpayers of about $25 million per
year.
According to Inspector General Glenn Cunha’s report, dated on
Wednesday and posted on his website but not widely released,
investigators discovered potential eligibility concerns that could
result in the termination of benefits in about 9 percent of the
households receiving benefits under the program known as
Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children and designed to
provide assistance to the poorest residents of Massachusetts.
Based on a sample of active TAFDC cases as of June 1, 2012, Cunha’s
office found “substantial compliance in all of the eligibility
categories” with one exception: none of the households with
school-aged children complied with a school attendance verification
requirement.
The office also found “potential” eligibility errors in several
areas, including undisclosed assets and employment income, missing
residency verifications, participation in work programs, and
citizenship or immigration status.
According to the IG, potential eligibility errors “are expected to
be present” in about a third of households receiving benefits, based
on extrapolations made from the sample examined.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr on Thursday noted the report’s
arrival on the heels of Gov. Deval Patrick’s call for higher taxes,
fees and tolls and said in a statement that Cunha’s report “proves
that there is still substantial work to be done to eliminate and
prevent fraud, waste and abuse in our state’s welfare system.”
Tarr said, “It’s unacceptable that taxpayers would be asked to pay
more while millions are being wasted. Equally unacceptable is the
diversion of precious dollars intended to support those in need from
people who deserve them to those who do not.”
On Wednesday morning in the Boston Herald, the first publication to
report on the study, Cunha said the DTA “is really going to have to
do a better job following its regulations.”
The Herald quoted DTA Commissioner Daniel Curley as saying the
agency had enhanced its verification process and would continue to
“strengthen program integrity.” A Cunha aide said the report was not
distributed to media on Wednesday, but was posted on the agency’s
website and sent to some state legislators.
The Boston Herald
Friday, February 1, 2013
Welfare boss resigns in wake of $$ report
By Chris Cassidy
The state’s embattled welfare chief was forced to step down
yesterday in the wake of a shocking internal report that found that
a staggering 47,000 families receiving taxpayer-funded benefits are
unaccounted for — and nearly $30 million in food stamp money went to
recipients who were not eligible.
The shocking report, released to the Herald last night, found that
the Department of Transitional Assistance has lost track of 47,087
households on welfare — or one out of 10 of the total 478,000 who
received DTA mailings.
The welfare department also admitted that it overpaid federal food
stamp recipients by a whopping $27.8 million since 2010.
As a result, newly sworn-in Secretary of Health and Human Services
John Polanowicz demanded that DTA commissioner Daniel J. Curley
resign yesterday.
“These issues have distracted DTA staff from the important work that
they do for clients,” Polanowicz said in a statement. “I intend for
these steps to clearly indicate that we are accountable for taxpayer
resources and seek to protect benefits for those who truly need
them.”
Curley’s resignation comes after a series of Herald reports
detailing rampant mismanagement in the welfare department, as well
as inquiries into whether DTA was paying food-stamp recipients after
they were no longer eligible to collect.
The Herald reported early last month that 19,000 voter registration
mailings to welfare recipients came back as undeliverable because
the state couldn’t confirm their residencies.
That number was based on welfare department estimates. But after
staffers hand-counted boxes of returned mail, they discovered the
actual number is more than 47,000.
That means thousands of people receiving electronic benefits may
have moved out of state or out of the country — or they may have
died or gone to prison.
Polanowicz also admitted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture —
which funds the food stamp program — notified him last week that the
state has overpaid welfare recipients by $27.8 million since 2010.
The state attributed that taxpayer-funded blunder to a lack of staff
and resources during the recession, when thousands of new recipients
flooded the agency to sign up for food stamps.
The state is currently in negotiations with the USDA to work out a
resolution, Polanowicz said.
He also cited an audit from Inspector General Glenn Cunha — which
the Herald reported yesterday — revealing that the DTA doled out $25
million, or 3 percent of its budget, in possible overpayments to
welfare recipients.
The IG’s report showed that welfare benefits are going to thousands
of families that may not be eligible because they are working
outside jobs, failed to provide proof of residency or proof of
citizenship, or submitted false information about spouses they
claimed to be absent, among other disqualifying factors.
Polanowicz defended DTA’s more effective operations but acknowledged
they’ve been overshadowed by these glaring cases of taxpayer waste.
“I have also observed in my short tenure as secretary that the
Department of Transitional Assistance faces serious challenges that
need to be addressed,” he said. “Reports alleging millions of
dollars in overpayments, concerning eligibility issues, and
significant problems with client lists following a mass voter
mailing, have dominated the public discourse.”
Curley, who was named welfare chief in November 2011, did not return
a phone message left at his home.
State House News Service
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Analysis: Patrick's new revenues hinge on eliminating tax breaks
By Andy Metzger
Gov. Deval Patrick’s planned shifting of the income and sales tax
rates would essentially result in a revenue “wash” and the bulk of
$1.9 billion in new revenues under his tax code overhaul would come
from eliminating specific exemptions and deductions, according to
the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
“These deductions and exemptions can have a huge impact on
individual taxpayers,” MTF President Michael Widmer told the News
Service Thursday.
The 44 personal income tax exemptions and deductions targeted by
Patrick add up to $1.08 billion in new revenue under the tax plan,
or 68 percent of the money Patrick hopes to raise once the sales tax
cut and income tax increase essentially cancel each other out,
according to the business-backed organization.
The net revenue gain from increasing the income tax, decreasing the
sales tax, and doubling personal exemptions is $110 million, or
about 6 percent of the proposed new revenues.
Widmer said the debate over Patrick’s tax proposals should focus on
the proposed tax code reforms as well as the proposed revenue
increase.
Patrick told the News Service Thursday a commission studying the tax
expenditure budget - a listing of foregone tax revenue due to myriad
tax policy directives - last year found more tax breaks being given
out than revenue collected each year by the state.
“To some extent, it’s not a question of what people pay in taxes
exclusively, it’s also who pays and some of them are out of date and
a few of them we put on the table,” Patrick said.
Patrick said the objective of his plan is to focus on what the state
wants to prioritize for investments and why. “And having a 21st
Century transportation system, an education system that doesn’t
leave people out and leave talent on the sidelines is what this is
about. It’s how we grow jobs and grow opportunities. There’s more
than one way to accomplish that. I put my ideas forward. Let’s see
what the Legislature comes back with and we will engage with them
and the [MTF] and everybody else,” Patrick said.
Glen Shor, the governor’s secretary of administration and finance,
did not take issue with Widmer’s math, but said he looks at the
proposal through a different prism. “The governor’s revenue
proposals should be taken as a whole. It raises $1.9 billion by
creating a fairer and simpler tax system. Half of Massachusetts
households will pay the same or less than what they do today.”
Shor said the income tax hike is the principle source of new
revenue, with the brunt of the increase falling on the mid-
to-higher income earners, while lower income individuals and
families will benefit from a reduction in the sales tax and a
doubling of the personal tax exemption, thus reducing their taxable
income. He said individuals will save $900 million by dropping the
sales tax to 4.5 percent, not accounting for what he called “public
health measures” such as increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack
and adding sales tax to candy and soda. Those changes would net $219
million in new revenue, he said.
The biggest revenue-raising deduction elimination also affects the
most people. Currently, Massachusetts residents can deduct up to
$2,000 in federal payroll taxes and public pension plans from their
personal income for state taxes. That deduction affects 3.6 million
filers and its elimination will generate $357 million in revenue,
under the higher, proposed income tax rate.
Without the offset of the concurrent reduction in the sales tax
rate, from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent, the increase in the income
tax, from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent would be able to raise
revenues by $1.48 billion. The sales tax reduction would decrease
state revenues by $1.37 billion.
Another portion of the revenue increases would come from increases
in corporate taxes, including a $40 million annual limitation on
film tax credits. In total, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association
said those corporate tax changes would raise $499 million, or 26
percent of the total new revenue.
Shor, however, said the business group’s calculation does not take
into account how businesses will save $470 million in sales taxes
from the governor’s proposal. “If you were to count winners and
losers, there would be many more business winners than losers.” Shor
said.
Looking at the proposal as Shor does, corporate taxpayers would only
see an increase of $29 million in taxes.
In rolling out his tax proposal at the State of the Commonwealth
address, Patrick said it was important to maintain a fair and
competitive tax structure that could also raise needed funds for
transportation and education.
“Right now, our overall tax rates are comparable to our neighbor
states and the states with which we compete,” Patrick said. “We need
to sustain that balance, and also assure a sharing of the load
within the Commonwealth that is fair. “
Patrick’s multi-faceted approach to overhauling the tax code
generally meshes with calls for broad tax law reforms called for in
recent years by Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington), who chaired the
Committee on Revenue last session. House Speaker Robert DeLeo has
yet to announce this session’s Revenue chair.
The state’s tax expenditure budget identifies hundreds of specific
tax breaks, which the Tax Expenditure Commission, chaired by former
Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez, recommended
reducing in a report issued last April 30.
“A reduction in size of the Tax Expenditure Budget provides the
opportunity to reduce tax rates paid by everyone, or to generate
more revenue to support government programs and services,” the
commission wrote.
Widmer noted that while Patrick’s tax and spending plan would
increase college tuition grants, the tax reform proposal calls for
an elimination of a tuition deduction, which affects 65,000 people
and saves tax filers $36 million under the current income tax rate.
An increase on tobacco taxes would raise $166 million and an
expansion of the sales tax so that it includes candy and soda would
raise $53 million, if the sales tax was also reduced to the 4.5
percent rate.
The tax code changes would also eliminate the $3,600 deduction for
one dependent under the age of 12 and the $7,200 deduction for two
or more dependents age 12 or younger. That would affect 510,000
filers who currently save $136 million.
Other deductions and exemptions slated for elimination are the
deduction for business-related child care expenses, certain foster
care payments, the exemption of scholarships and fellowships, the
personal exemption for students aged 19 or older, as well as the
deduction for public transit expenses and tolls.
Matt Murphy contributed reporting
|
| |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
|